This invention relates generally to air brakes for heavy equipment and, more particularly, to a system having at least measurement and verification tools for determining a proper length at which to cut a pushrod for proper setup of a brake replacement procedure.
Heavy equipment, including semi-trucks, typically include air brakes as the primary means for stopping rotation of its wheels. An air brake system is a complex mechanical assembly and must be kept in good working condition and in proper alignment with all of the air brake components of the truck to avoid component failure and potential injury and cost. More particularly, the pushrods within a brake assembly should be cut to a specific length to work efficiently with the slack adjusters and, thereafter, the S-cams that actually cause a braking action. If the brake geometry is out of a predetermined range, vehicle performance may be affected and the components of the assembly may be shortened. Proper brake geometry is critical as out of adjustment brakes can cause the vehicle to be taken out of service by law enforcement or, worse yet, lead to a traffic accident.
Specifically, repair technicians sometimes make crucial errors when setting up the geometry of a brake system. For instance, the brakes may instantly and unexpectedly lock up if a pushrod is cut too long or the brakes may not work at all if the pushrod is cut too short. Technicians often just “eyeball” the proper pushrod length which can lead to disaster on the highway when trying to stop a truck weighing 80,000 pounds.
Manufacturers of brake assemblies provide guidance by way of charts and template inserts in an effort to assist automotive technicians to properly configure a brake installation. Although presumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices and methods for installing and configuring components of a brake assembly coupled to and associated with a pushrod remain confusing and prone to error. The process is made even more difficult for a technician lying underneath a truck.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a pushrod measurement and verification system having a measurement tool that indicates the cutback length of a pushrod associated with a brake assembly. Further, it would be desirable to have a pushrod measurement and verification system that may be mounted to the S-cam spline of a brake assembly in the same manner as a slack adjuster will eventually be attached and, as a result, indicate an exact location that the pushrod should be cut. In addition, it would be desirable to have a pushrod measurement and verification system, having a verification tool that shows quickly if a clevis and slack adjuster have been installed properly (i.e. attached to a correctly sized push rod).